Crossing the floor

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In politics, crossing the floor is to vote against party lines, especially where this is considered unusual or controversial. The term originates from the British House of Commons, which is configured with the Government and Opposition facing each other on rows of benches. Votes, or divisions, are taken by entering lobbies to the left and right of the chamber to have one's vote tallied; the "Aye Lobby" is on the Government side and the "No Lobby" on the Opposition side. If one wishes to vote against one's party, one must quite literally cross the floor to get to the other lobby.

The term has passed into general use in other Westminster parliamentary democracies, such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand or South Africa even though most of these countries have semicircular or horseshoe-shaped debating chambers and mechanisms for voting without members leaving their seats. It is most often used to describe members of the government party or parties who defect and vote with the Opposition against some piece of government-sponsored legislation.

It is also sometimes used to describe a member who leaves their party entirely and joins the opposite side of the House, such as leaving an opposition party to support the government (or vice versa), or even leaving one opposition party to join another. It involves the person leaving his parliamentary party and joining a new one. This usage exists not only in Westminster system parliaments, but also in legislatures in presidential systems. In Canada, the term "crossing the floor" is used exclusively to refer to switching parties which occurs occasionally at both the federal and provincial levels.

In April 2006, Manitoba's premier Gary Doer (NDP) proposed banning crossing the floor of the Manitoba legislature. The legislation would be the first of its kind in Canada and, according to Mr Doer, it "responds to the concern some voters have expressed over the high-profile defections of three federal MPs from their parties in just over two years" (Michelle Macafee, Proposed reforms would ban floor-crossing in Man., Canadian Press, April 11, 2006)

In Australia, Senator Barnaby Joyce of the National Party has crossed the floor twice to vote against his coalition colleagues. The first was to vote against a motion concerning the Trade Practices Act and the second was a vote to oppose Voluntary Student Unionism. However, the record for crossing the floor in the Australian Parliament goes to Tasmanian Senator Sir Reginald Wright, who voted against his own party (the Liberal Party of Australia) on no less than 150 occasions.

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